American Cinematographer - February 2021 - 80
Wrap Shot
Gregg Toland, ASC
PHOTO FROM THE ASC ARCHIVE.
Gregg Toland, ASC studies actress Dorothy
Comingore from below the camera as Orson
Welles directs Citizen Kane from a wheelchair -
necessitated by a stress fracture in his leg.
Citizen Kane is by no means a conventional, run-of-the-mill
movie. Its keynote is realism. As we worked together over
the script and the final, pre-production planning, both Orson
Welles and I felt this, and felt that if it was possible, the picture
should be brought to the screen in such a way that the audience would feel it was looking at reality, rather than merely at
a movie.
Closely interrelated with this concept were two perplexing
cinetechnical problems. In the first place, the settings for this
production were designed to play a definite role in the picture
- one as vital as any player's characterization. They were more
than mere backgrounds: they helped trace the
rise and fall of the central character.
Secondly - but by no means of secondary
importance - was Welles' concept of the visual
flow of the picture. He instinctively grasped a
80 / FEBRUARY 2021
point which many other far more experienced directors and
producers never comprehend: that the scenes and sequences
should flow together so smoothly that the audience would not
be conscious of the mechanics of picture-making. And, in spite
of the fact that his previous experience had been in directing for the stage and for radio, he had a full realization of the
great power of the camera in conveying dramatic ideas without
recourse to words.
Therefore, from the moment the production began to take
shape in script form, everything was planned with reference to
what the camera could bring to the eyes of the audience.
Excerpted from Toland's article " Realism for Citizen Kane, "
published exactly 80 years ago in AC Feb. 1941. Our Archive
subscribers can read the complete article, plus content from
every issue of the magazine since 1920.
American Cinematographer - February 2021
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2021
American Cinematographer - February 2021 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - February 2021 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - February 2021 - 1
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American Cinematographer - February 2021 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - February 2021 - Cover4
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